The exemplary embodiment relates to electromechanical devices such as multifunction devices (MFDs). It finds particular application in connection with a detachable display device with a graphical user interface (GUI) which provides three-dimensional (3D) dynamic views of the MFD to assist the user in troubleshooting various components of the MFD. While the exemplary embodiment is described in terms of troubleshooting, it should be appreciated that the system and method find application in device operation, training, and the like.
Multi-function devices (MFDs), such as printers, copiers, scanners, facsimile machines, combinations thereof, or the like, are generally equipped with a display, typically a touch screen with a graphical user interface (GUI), and a software-based operating system (OS) to perform essential machine functions and implement various jobs the device is capable of performing. Complex and sophisticated devices, particularly high-speed MFDs, are subject to various problems and faults related to the software or hardware.
Problems that occur at low, non-periodic rates are difficult to replicate and thus difficult to resolve. Traditionally, a user seeking resolution often resorts to telephoning a service agent or manufacturer to guide them through a troubleshooting sequence that is intended to resolve the problem or identify the cause. More recently, business arrangements between the customer and the equipment supplier hold the user responsible, at least in part, for some maintenance and basic troubleshooting of the equipment. To aid the user, the GUI may provide instructions on a standard fixed repair procedure. More recently, systems have been developed which provide access to a searchable knowledge base (SKB) which allows the user to identify a case which appears to match the problem. Once identified, one or more corresponding solutions are displayed to the user as a series of repair procedures alongside a graphical representation of the hardware components affected.
Typically, the user is not technically trained to diagnose and/or service the MFDs and therefore may find it difficult to relate the physical device and its hardware components to the repair procedures and graphical representations displayed on the GUI. Since the display is generally disposed on top of the MFD, the display and the corresponding repair procedures are out of the user's field of view when performing repairs on the device's interior or sides. The displayed repair procedure, despite its quality, requires some mental effort to be related to the physical device. In other words, users often find it difficult to locate a component indicated or highlighted on the display, in part, because the displayed view is not contextualized to the users perspective.
There remains a need for a system and method of providing dynamic 3D views of an MFD and its components on a display which provides better assistance to users in performing repair procedures.